Comments on: Zoning Board Tables 315 W. Ponce Variance

By: David

David — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:12:30 +0000

A quick sudy of architecture for about the last 50 years would show you how completely ordinary that building really is. It is designed to do one thing, maximize the building footprint on its lot while conforming with then current zoning.
They could have built something that fit perfectly in the style of Decatur but instead we got a building straight out of midtown. Go look at Silk on Peachtree. What imagination. What a sense of place.

I wouldn’t mind marble but then the city admin would have had to go to china again so they could make sure they got the right price.
I’ll be very surprised if that building makes for 10 years without a major facelift or other repairs that will cause an assessment none of the current owners are even willing to think about.

These walkable centers are great but you’re going to have to pay more for all the stuff you buy there because the distribution of the goods to more stores is going to increase transportation costs. In addition you lose the economies of scale the big box grocery stores have. Nothing comes without a price. Maybe you don’t drive but the trucks still have bring your fairmarket coffee to you. Does anybody really bother to really think these things through or do they just take the easy way out with buzz words and ad hominum attacks. Some people will believe anything.

Hey whats a college education really worth these days?
Ignorantia delinde est
Basta

By: decaturite

decaturite — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:16:18 +0000

Guys, I would suggest taking David with a grain of salt sometimes…he even admits that he likes to hear himself talk.

By: Left Wing

Left Wing — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:03:11 +0000

Suzie,

I agreee with you. I just do not understand, for the life of me, how someone can see that building, which replaced a freaking parking lot, and say, “That was dumb.”

I mean, would it suit your standards if it was built out of Marble?

By: decaturite

decaturite — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:44:47 +0000

Baron, no worries…we’re all friends here.

But if your friend really is tired of McMansions, it seems like putting together a historic district nomination would be a more appropriate use of time than fighting a new development that covers a parking lot. (Unless their displeasure comes from destroying the 315 landscaping out front…which is what I take issue with, even though few others do)

By: Suzie

Suzie — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:22:51 +0000

If you want a good example of the special kind of hell that this can be, pop up Fairview Avenue one evening when restaurants are in full swing.

I’ve actually done this the last couple of weekends and didn’t notice that parking on the residential streets was much of a problem. If it is, show me the evidence. How many citations have been issued for parking in a residential zone?

David, if you really think that the Artisian is such a bad building then you really are a BANANA! That is an extremely appropriate building for that property, replaced a weedy parking lot that was there before, helps connect the core part of downtown around the square with the west part of downtown to make it more walkable. But I guess for you and your neighbors, you would have rather seen a surface parking lot remain there, just in case someone might park on your street for 30 minutes while they run into Mellow Mushroom!